Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder

20 Sep 2003, 21:29 p.m.

He Has Only Surprised Me Like That About Three Times Ever

Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2003 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.

Earlier today, I discovered that Alton Brown had already done an event in San Francisco. I let Leonard know that he would also be doing something in San Mateo that I couldn't go to, but that Leonard might enjoy. Leonard said nah. In fact, he called a little later and said he would be taking a nap.

I just arrived at his home for dinner and Leonard showed me something interesting. It is his copy of I'm Just Here For the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking by Alton Brown, inscribed on the title page: "To Leonard & Sumana: May the food be with you! AB"

I stared, uncomprehending, for seconds.

"You took a nap."
His head shook.
"You didn't take a nap."
Nod.
"You went! You said you wouldn't go, and then you went!"

And then I gibbered and made him recount his conversation with freaking Alton Brown to me twice. Here is his side of Celebrity Chef Week and boy oh boy did he surprise me.